Interpreter”s Introduction

　　It is a pleasure to rewrite the Jataka stories in modern English understandable by western readers. To achieve this goal, the stories are being retold in order to convey the spirit and meaning. They are not scholarly word-for-word translations as have been done by others. The Pali Text Society has published the whole text in English translations a hundred years ago. In Sri Lanka they were translated into Sinhalese in the 14th century, where they were known as Pansiya Panas Jataka.

　　In all Buddhist countries the Jataka tales were the major sources for developing the character of the people. They were used widely in preaching by monks and lay preachers. King Dutugemunu (2nd century B.C.), in Anuradhapura, paid for the support of preachers to teach Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha. They usually used these stories in their sermons. Even the Venerable Arahant Maha Mahinda, who introduced Dhamma into Sri Lanka, used these stories to illustrate the truth of the teachings. Some were even used by the Lord Buddha in his teachings, and from him his followers learned them and passed them into popular use in society. Even earlier, the same types of stories were present in Vedic literature.

　　Greek myths, as well as the fables of Aesop, inherited them from the Vedas and Buddhism; Persia also took them from India. They later migrated into the stories of Chaucer in England and Boccaccio in Italy. The stories were used for a variety of purposes. In Sanskrit, the Pancatantra used them to teach Law and Economics, and the Katha Sarit Sagara used them for the development of knowledge, as well as just for enjoyment. In the past, people have been satisfied and fulfilled in many ways by hearing them in forms ranging from lessons to fairy tales.

　　By reading these stories, children and adults can develop their knowledge and learn how to face the difficult experiences of modern life. They can easily develop human values and good qualities like patience, forbearance, tolerance and the four sublime states of mind - loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. The major purpose of these stories is to develop the moral and ethical values of the readers. Without them, people cannot be peaceful and happy in their hearts and minds. And the reader will find that these values are very different from those of the wider, violently acquisitive, ego-based society.

　　In this interpretation, changes are being made to the style of the old Jataka stories, and explanations are added, as is appropriate for children in the modern world. The lovely artwork is also sometimes in a modern setting, to attract young and old to the truths contained in the tales.

　　The sources used have been as follows:

　　1. Jataka Pali (Colombo: Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka Series Publication Board, 1983) - original Pali stanzas.

　　2. Jataka Pali (Colombo: Simon Hewavitarane Bequest, 1926) - original Pali Jataka stories in Sinhalese characters.

　　3. Sinhala Jataka Pot Vahanse (Colombo: Jinalankara Press, 1928) - Sinhalese translation of Pali Jataka stories.

　　4. Sinhala Jalaka Pot Vahanse (Colombo: Ratnakara Bookshop, 1961) - Sinhalese translation of Pali Jataka stories.

　　5. Jataka Pota, ed. Lionel Lokuliyana (Colombo: M. D. Gunasena & Co., 1960) - Sinhalese translation of first fifty Pali Jataka stories.

　　6. The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha”s Former Lives, ed. E. B. Cowell (London: Pali Text Society, 1981), 6 vols., index

　　English translation of Pali Jataka stories.

　　7. Pansiyapanas Jataka Pot Vahanse (Bandaragama: H. W. N. Prematilaka, 1987) - Sinhalese summaries of Pali Jataka stories.

　　In addition, "From the Storyteller to the Listeners" (below), contains a paraphrase taken from "Discourse With Canki," Middle Length Sayings (Majjhima-Nikaya), trans. I. B. Horn…

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